Install Softaculous on DirectAdmin or Plesk

Softaculous gives your users one-click installs of WordPress and hundreds of other apps, plus backups, staging and auto-upgrades. It runs on cPanel, DirectAdmin and Plesk. This guide covers DirectAdmin and Plesk; for cPanel see install Softaculous on WHM.

Before you start

• A working DirectAdmin or Plesk server with root SSH access.
• A Softaculous licence (Premium) bound to the server's main IP. Without one, the free edition with a limited app list is installed.
• ionCube Loader available in the panel's PHP, which Softaculous needs. DirectAdmin's CustomBuild and Plesk handle this during the install.
• Outbound HTTPS access to softaculous.com mirrors.

DirectAdmin: install with CustomBuild

1. Connect as root and run:
   Copy

   cd /usr/local/directadmin/custombuild
   ./build update
   ./build set softaculous yes
   ./build softaculous

2. CustomBuild installs ionCube if missing, downloads Softaculous and adds it to DirectAdmin at all levels.

Plesk: install with the installer script

1. Connect as root and run:
   Copy

   wget -N https://files.softaculous.com/install.sh
   chmod 755 install.sh
   ./install.sh

2. The script detects Plesk and installs Softaculous as an extension. You can also install it from Extensions → Extensions Catalog by searching for Softaculous.

Activate the licence

Premium licences are detected automatically by the server IP. After buying or changing a licence, open Softaculous admin, go to License and click Refresh License. The page shows the licence type and expiry.

First configuration

1. Open Softaculous admin: DirectAdmin Admin Level → Extra Features → Softaculous; Plesk Extensions → My Extensions → Softaculous → Open.
2. In Settings, set the default admin email, auto-upgrade policy and backup location.
3. In Disable Scripts, hide apps you do not want to support.
4. In Updates, enable automatic Softaculous updates.

Verify

• Log in as a test user and confirm the Softaculous icon appears.
• Install WordPress on a test domain and open its admin.

Troubleshooting

• ionCube error: enable ionCube for the panel PHP (DirectAdmin: ./build set ioncube yes && ./build ioncube).
• Only a few scripts listed: the licence was not detected; refresh it or check the server IP with Softaculous.
• Icon missing for users: on DirectAdmin enable it in the user package's features; on Plesk check the service plan permissions.

Next steps

• What Softaculous offers users
• Softaculous auto-upgrade settings
• Install LiteSpeed on DirectAdmin or Plesk